'I was depressed and suicidal': Mandopop singer Fiona Sit

In a surprise revelation in a recent interview, Hong Kong actress and singer Fiona Sit admitted that she battled depression in 2009, and came close to killing herself one night.

She did not go through with the act, instead calling her friend and fellow Mandopop singer Khalil Fong for help.

Speaking candidly to an Oriental Daily News reporter, the 30-year-old beauty said she only realised something was wrong when she broke down in a hair salon when she was given the wrong soup for her takeaway, scaring the hairstylist badly.

She soon began magnifying all of her problems and wallowing in self-pity, growing frighteningly thin in the process. At that time, she was surviving on half a cup of noodles a day, and thinking of dying "all the time".

She graduated to cutting herself on her arms. One day, she tried to commit suicide by taking sleeping pills with red wine.

She described her feelings like a 'force' inside her that was pushing her towards death.

However, her actions made her realise that she was sick and she called her friend Fong in tears, asking for his help in stopping her from committing suicide.

He was the first to know about her depression. Her mother was the next person to find out through Fong.

Sit said she was initially angry at him for what she saw as a betrayal of her trust, but she soon came to realise that he did the right thing.

In addition to advice given by Fong, Sit recovered with the help of two psychiatrists and two non-entertainer friends who took turns to stay by her side.

A Singaporean volunteer couple also prayed with her.

Till this day, although she has recovered, she still keeps the pills prescribed by her doctor then in her bedside cabinet, to serve as a 'memento', she said.

yamadak@sph.com.sg